iMf; 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



319 



What III "Social Position?" 



People who belong to what is called 

 the "best society" in large towns or 

 cities, says Henry Childs Merwin iu 

 The Atlantic, are usually quite uncon- 

 scious of the fact that society is graded 

 just as minutely beneath them as it is 

 in the plane with which they are fa- 

 miliar. But, in fact, every individual 

 In a complex society, down to the beggar 

 in the street or the tramp on the higli- 

 way, has his "social position." The 

 city missionaries of Boston report, with 

 Bome astonishment, that a great social 

 gap exists between the peanut vender 

 5n the sidewalk and the peripatetic or- 

 |au grinder and that the children of the 

 former are forbidden by their parents 

 to play with the children of the latter. 

 It is indeed asserted, and with consider- 

 able truth, tnat mere wealth is a pass- 

 port to the best society, but this is less 

 true iu America than it is in England 

 and less true iu Australia than it is iu 

 America. 



The reason is that in England the 

 best society is a state institution and 

 therefore is more sure of its position 

 and can afford to be less exclusive — to 

 be more hospitable not only to wealth, 

 but also to intellect and originality — 

 than is possible for the corresponding 

 class in a democratic country. More 

 over, even from the most aristocratic 

 point of view, a good reason can be 

 given for accepting wealth as a substi- 

 tute for birth. The fact that a man has 

 made much money implies, as a rule, 

 that both his mind and his physical 

 strength are far above the average. 

 From what better stock, then, could 

 the best society be recruited? This, of 

 course, is not the motive of the rich 

 man's reception iu good society. It 

 might better be described as nature's 

 reason for permitting the anomaly. 



Washington as a Sportsman. 



In the biography of George Washing- 

 ton by Professor Woodrow Wilson 

 (Harper's) occurs the following de- 

 scription of Washington as a sportsman; 



"Washington loved horses and dogs 

 with the heartiest sportsman of them 

 all. He had a great gusto for stalking 

 deer with George Mason on the broad 

 forested tracts round Guuston Hall and 

 liked often to take euu or rod after 



](.s,-tr ^aLLe \\L, u i.e Guy i. li cluii, 

 but best cf all Lo lovtd a horse's back 

 i;nd the huid i:('ie for l:ours togtthtr 

 a.ter the ecus a::U a crufiy quany — a. 

 horse it i:ut u uiuu to hi.s poiLls lo lirie, 

 i: country v. jcre the niuniiig v^as cily 

 Icr tl.ose V, i.o diaicl i^is cv^n tucuuts 

 r^Guld novshtre be beturtd iii Viignjia. 

 Ihtie was full bleed of Arabj in his 

 uobie Magnnha aurl rs grod hui.tiig' 

 biood as was to be louud v\ the ccleuy 

 in his ElufcbiiiU and A.i;;s, Valiant and 

 UliinkiiMg. tiis houuc;s he bred 'so 

 IJew'd, so SLuded," s;:! n^atched iu spetJ 

 and hatit, that they kept always tune 

 and pace together iu the field. 'Iwas 

 first to the siubles for hitii always in 

 the n;oruiug and then to the k^Luels. " 

 There were other pleas:Uit.s, too, in 

 the Jile of a couuiiy geniUuiun of Vir- 

 ginia, and V"«i.ph]i.^icn did net scorn 

 ttiem. 



Spoutu^eous Igrnicion. 



As is weil hnowLi, a tn quent souice 

 of "unaccountable" fires tuius out to 

 be, in reality, the sptntauteus ignition 

 of varici.»i iLateiials more cr lets satu- 

 rated with oils cr fats. The follow ii.g 

 is considered a reliable list of common 

 mateiials of the Ciass which, wheu ccu- 

 taiuiug cily mutters, will, uud:r favor- 

 able conditions, cftentimes ignite nat- 

 urally: Waste, tow, rags, saw'du-«t, 

 shavings, cottcu and woolen cloih, 

 roofing fel; and, in fact, all porous com- 

 bustible homes contaiuiug any oily cr 

 resinous substance having an affiniry 

 for oxygen All vegetable and auimi.l 

 oils have more or less affinity tci 

 oxygen, whiie thoce produced trom tl.e 

 distillation of petroleum and shale aie 

 practically jna';ted upon by the ele- 

 n;ent. But the oils which oxidize in the 

 air most rapiuly are the vegetable oils, 

 such as liuteed, hempseeci, hoppy oil, 

 etc. Briefly, by far the most frequent 

 sources of fires trom spcntanecus com- 

 bustion are those which result from 

 heat induced by the absorption of at- 

 mospheric oxygen. 



In the long arctic night there is i;, 

 constant diliiculty in keeping awuke 

 Greely had to make very ^-iii i ir. !es to 

 k tp his n;en a^\ake tJuiiLg the lei g 

 arctic night Beds were i.ot allow id to 

 be maue, ai;d the men were compeikil 

 to get up and move about. 



